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Today’s gospel has a familiar ring. We have heard stories of famous people
who showed precocious signs of future greatness while they were still young.
Jesus, while still only twelve, declares his primary allegiance. He is to be in
God’s house, God’s work will be his life’s work.

Jesus belonged to an observant Jewish family and so his parents take their
firstborn to the Temple in Jerusalem. They are teaching him his Jewish heritage.
St. Luke is brief about something that that must have seemed like an eternity
for Mary and Joseph – for "three days" they search for their missing child. Read
into that succinct narrative the anguish Jesus’ parents must have felt searching
for their son. What parent has not had a hint of that feeling when turning
around in a mall they notice their child has wandered? How much greater the
anguish experienced by those parents whose child has run away, or made decisions
they were much too young to make, with consequences that may last the rest of
their lives?

Parenting has profound joys and more than its share of worry, fright and
anguish. I can only imagine the relief Mary and Joseph felt when, at last, they
found Jesus. Mary’s statement to him, about his parents having "great anxiety,"
gives us a clue what the parents were feeling. The original Greek for "anxiety"
suggests severe mental distress, sadness and intense anguish. For example, in
Luke, it is the same expression used by the rich man who, having ignored the
beggar Lazarus at his gate, winds up in hell begging Abraham for a drop of water
to cool his tongue. He says, ". . . For I am in agony in these flames" (Lk.
16: 24). In Greek, "agony" is the same word Luke uses when Mary tells Jesus,
"Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety". Mary’s
tone sounds like what one would expect from a parent who has just gone through
"great anxiety" – she is correcting Jesus. But his response isn’t the humble
request for forgiveness we might have expected. Instead, he seems to reproach
them for their worry. Jesus, as Luke depicts him here, is a young man finding
his calling for life. He will be about God’s business and his choice of vocation
will take him outside the influence of family and village.

Jesus’s response doesn’t clarify the matter for Mary and Joseph; they "did
not understand what he said to them." The call he has heard, "to be in my
Father’s house", and to dedicate himself to God’s ways, is exactly right for him
– and for us. But we can’t ignore the mystery. That call will require him to be
faithful to it all the way to his death. Others in religious and political power
will take such exception to the way he lived out his vocation that they will
seek his death This is just the beginning. Jesus will always cause continued
questions and anguish for his parents, most especially for Mary, when she stands
and wonders at the foot of his cross.

Let’s look at the context of the passage, this may help in our
interpretation. Luke begins his gospel with a two-part prologue (1:5-2:52). The
first part (1:5-2:40) appears in the Lectionary readings during Advent, the
Christmas celebrations and on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This part
of the prologue is about Jesus’ origins. The second part (2:41-2:52) is much
shorter and relates to his destiny. He will return to God. Hence, today’s
selection begins to show this destiny, when Jesus says his place is in his
"Father’s house." Through this liturgical year Luke’s gospel will follow a
similar division. The first part will be about the origins of the Christian
community in Galilee (4:14-9:50). In the second we will travel with Jesus to
Jerusalem and discover our destiny with him.

There is a painting of the Holy Family I once saw, I think it was done by
George de la Tour. It shows Joseph in his carpentry shop where he is teaching
carpentry to the young Jesus. They are working on two pieces of wood that form a
cross beam. De la Tour seems to be suggesting the early appearance of the cross
in the gospel. The artist depicts the same thing Luke is showing us. Earlier in
the Gospel Luke tells us that the Spirit of God "over shadows" Mary enabling her
to become the mother of the savior. This young, unlettered peasant girl discerns
the voice of God and responds in the affirmative to God’s will, becoming a
partner with God in the work of redemption. Her "yes" began the story of God’s
taking flesh – but it also turned her world upside down. Her "yes" to God’s ways
required personal sacrifice.

We begin to see today some of the consequences in Mary’s life as a result of
her consent to God. She must undergo the suffering of a parent whose son’s ways
cause her pain and questions. Besides the Spirit’s presence in her life, the
cross is also showing signs of its presence. We know that through Luke’s gospel
the cross "overshadows" Jesus’ life – but we begin to see that it overshadows
the family’s life as well. It has already begun to show itself as Jesus chooses
a way of life that will bring suffering before it brings new life. Luke tells us
that the parents "did not understand what he said to them." They, like Jesus’
disciples – and we as well – will have to walk by the light of faith that
enables them to trust God, even when an answer to problems and pain is not
immediately forthcoming.

Growing up I heard too many sermons that waxed eloquently on "the Holy
Family." Preachers imagined an idyllic family which made me feel my loving
family fell short of the ideal painted by the preachers. Painted images of the
Holy Family in church and home only helped reinforce the unreality and distance
between them and the families I knew. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in their
immaculate, but simple home, seemed so peaceful, clean and starched. I used to
think Jesus had it easy, he had no brothers or sisters to argue with over the
biggest piece of birthday cake. Mary and Joseph looked like they never
disagreed, worried about finances, or had fears for the safety of their child
growing up in an all-too-cruel world. I think we need to bring our human
experience to today’s gospel and not sanitize it to fit our preconceptions or
pious presumptions about the kind of life the Holy Family lived. Having an
unreal idealized view of Jesus’ family only further separates us from his life
and the lives of other saints.

The closing line tells us that when they returned to Nazareth, Jesus was
obedient to his parents and that he "advanced in wisdom and age and favor before
God and humans." This growth didn’t happen in his sleep. Jesus is part of a
human family, devout Jews, who passed on their faith and their family customs to
their son. As his parents, they taught and nourished Jesus into manhood. God’s
taking flesh among us means Jesus grew and matured the way we do -- under the
influence of his parents, extended family, friends and neighbors. Jesus was not
raised in the Temple, in a rarefied atmosphere, far from the influence of his
family. Instead, he was very much immersed among people who cherished, nourished
and stood by him, even though they didn’t fully understand him.

Into this
world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for
him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at
home in it, because he is out of place in it, his place is with
those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who
do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded
as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of
person, who are tortured, bombed and exterminated. With those for
whom there is no room Christ is present in the world.

In this psalm, Israelites celebrate the pilgrimage
feasts in Jerusalem annually, eager to enjoy the divine presence. As we
contemplate what an effort it must have took for the Holy Family to journey each
year to the "City of Peace," let us think about how willing we are to stop what
we are doing and be with the Lord as part of his holy family. Then, take it a
step further and think about the rest of God’s family that we may not know--the
poor, the disadvantaged, the imprisoned, the elderly. . . are we willing to
journey with them?

Jonathan T. M. Reckford, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity International,
writes of poverty in their December newsletter:

"Many people view poverty as a single failing of the
individual or of society -- one that with enough tenacity anyone should be able
to overcome.

What I’ve found, however, is that poverty isn’t a single
closed door. It’s a series of them.

Whether these doors are open to us can depend largely on
factors outside of our control: the neighborhood we were born in, the school
district we were raised in, the genetic health issues we were passed down.

Each of these doors can trigger a cascade of closing doors
behind it.

The zip code, family and skin you were born in either lead
you to -- or close you off from -- access to higher education, approval for
loans, potential jobs, higher wages, stable housing.

Eventually, as the doors close, poverty becomes a lack of
freedom and of choice."

We know today that the Lord’s dwelling is the entire world,
indeed the universe, and in the heart and soul of God’s family.

This coming year, let our pilgrimage include "the other" and
let us walk together toward God’s world--where there is no more poverty, where
everyone has a decent place to live, where food is plentiful, where no one goes
without a cloak for warmth, where health is a given, where love, wisdom and
justice prevail, where our earth no longer groans in abuse, where everyone has
the opportunity to become who they were meant to be, …a world where God’s
presence is made manifest.

"One has to strongly
affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that
humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out."

---Pope Francis

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each
week I post in this space several inmates’ names and addresses. I invite you to
write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know we have not forgotten
them. If you like, tell them you heard about them through North Carolina’s,
"People of Faith Against the Death Penalty." If the inmate responds you might
consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to:

Mario Mc Neil #0788387 (On death row since 5/29/13)

Juan C. Rodriguez #1412408 (3/21/14)

Jonathan Richardson #1019362 m(4/4/2014)

----Central Prison, 4285 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4285

For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the
Catholic Mobilizing Network:

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